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Black Dog Serenade
Session 16 : Black Dog Serenade Cast (in order of appearance): Tucan, Udai Taxim, Spike Spiegel, Faye Valentine, Jet Black, Dig, Pilot, Nero, Fad, Edward, Ein. Plot A dark hallway is full of bodies, dead and hunched over. Tucan strolls through a doorway with a bottle of Don Perignon and sees a fellow inmate, Udai Taxim, stands up from the carnage. Tucan offers Udai a hit of the champagne, which Udai pours onto the ground and smiles. We pull out to see their prisoner transport ship is flying through hyperspace. On the Bebop Spike is trying to take a nap but is interrupted by Faye’s nagging about the shower being broken again. Faye yells as Jet, who is busy pruning the Bonsai’s in his Bonsai Room. The COM link rings after Jet explains he is busy, which Faye snatches up and rudely tells the caller that Jet is busy. She hangs up before they have a chance to speak. When the caller tries again, Jet apologizes to Faye and says he will fix the shower. Faye finds out the caller is a man named Fad, which makes Jet stare into space like he is remembering something but the cigarette in his prosthetic hand burns down to his fingers and Faye asks if he feels that. She says he needs to get “it” repaired, which Jet takes to mean the shower but Faye is talking about his prosthetic arm. The inmates have made their way to the cockpit on the prisoner transport ship where they are holding one pilot as a hostage. After the pilot tries to reason with them to give-up, and inmate named Dig shoots him in the back and kills him. Dig then turns on Tucan who remarks that the pilot was their last hostage, but Udai diffuses the situation by slicing Dig across the throat with a knife. Tucan then realizes who Udai is—an assassin from the syndicate. At a parking garage overlooking a harbor Jet meets up with Fad and they exchange in some friendly mocking to show that they had a colorful history as partners in the ISSP. Jet offers Fad a cigarette but Fad says he quit smoking, saying it isn’t a world for smokers anymore. Then Fad tells Jet about the prisoner transport ship and points out that Udai is on the ship, alluding to when Jet lost his arm. Jet walks away saying the job doesn’t interest him. In a flashback to an alley at night, a younger Fad and Jet in plain-clothes separate and break into a warehouse where Jet draws his gun at a young Udai and tells him that he is under arrest. Udai turns and smiles, then a spotlight comes on from above and blinds Jet. Then a gun fires as the flashback fades to white. The remaining inmates talk about their plan to escape an approaching ISSP blockade. An inmate that used to be a police captain says he’ll pilot the ship and they should find the weakest point of the blockade and ram through it. On the Bebop Edward hangs upside-down from Jet’s Hammer Head towing wench when she sees that he’s trying to leave the ship. Edward asks for souvenirs and Jet instructs her to water the Bonsai trees if he doesn’t return. As ISSP cruisers fly to the prisoner transport ship, Fad walks out of ISSP HQ and is caught off guard when Jet is there waiting for him. Udai gets on the radio and says, as a prison guard, that they are releasing one emergency shuttle. When the shuttle flies out to the ISSP cruisers it explodes, and turrets on the transport shoot down the remaining police ships. Fad and Jet are flying towards the spot where the transport ship was last seen inside Fad’s MONO Transport that is holding both Jet’s Hammer Head and a standard ISSP Cruiser. The police radio informs them that the prisoners have gone missing. Jet thinks Udai would go to Europa because he’s an old-fashioned guy and would try to go back to the European syndicate even if he hadn’t worked for them in a long while. Fad decides to follow Jet’s advice, remarking about how he’s still the Black Dog. Faye tries to take a shower on the Bebop but finds that it is still malfunctioning because Edward is soaking the Bonsai with a garden hose as Ein jumps around playfully and barks. When Spike asks what Edward is doing, she replies nonchalantly that Jet is never coming back. Udai tries to contact the European syndicate but they do not want to work with him. Udai calls it a betrayal. The rest of the inmates spots a heat source coming from Jet and Fad’s ships. Jet takes off in his Hammer Head before Fad wants him to and Tucan is the first to open fire from his turret. Another inmates gets in a spacesuit and fires a rocket launcher from an open airlock. Fad’s ship is struck by another rocket and crashes into the transport ship. Jet’s Hammer Head is beat-up but he manages to eject his pod and get aboard the ship. When Jet spots a security camera watching him, he poses and shoots it. Udai recognizes Jet and, grabbing a gun, says that he’ll deal with Jet himself. Tucan tries to escape but accidently opens an airlock and dies in the vacuum of space. Jet and Udai are caught in a shootout in a darkened hallway. Fad loads one bullet from the cockpit and walks away. Jet and Udai grapple, with Udai having the upper hand. He shoots Jet but only hits the prosthetic arm, which gives Jet the chance to counter-attack and disarm him. Udai throws a knife into Jet’s leg and they begin to talk about their past. Jet explains he came back because Udai took his arm, but Udai tells him he wasn’t the shooter—Fad was. Back in the flashback Udai explains that the whole sting was a setup to get rid of Jet, because Jet was a threat to the syndicate and Fad was on the payroll. Fad then shoots Udai in the head, killing him instantly. Jet wants to know if Udai was telling the truth. Fad explains that people who go against the syndicate lose. He draws his gun but Jet dives out of the way and still shoot Fad in the chest. As Fad dies he asks Jet for a cigarette, saying he couldn’t quit after all. Memorable Quotes ---- is taking a nap on the couch while Faye yells off-camera. *'Faye:' What the hell’s going on with the showers in this place? This is the fourth time. The FOURTH time! Even Buddha gets upset after three times. ---- and Jet meet on a parking garage balcony overlooking a harbor. *'Jet:' So you still think you’re a shooter with an old gun like that. ISSP can sure waste tax money. *'Fad:' On the gun? *'Jet:' No, on your salary. ---- goes to see Jet as he prepares to leave Bebop in his Hammer Head. *'Jet:' Edward, if I don’t come back, water the Bonsai for me ok? *'Edward:' Alright! Bonsai, bock-choy, wiseguy, waterboy! Light shine bright in the old town tonight! ---- decides to go along with Jet's hunch about where Udai will go. *'Fad:' The Black Dog who bites once and never lets go. ---- the prison inmate fires on Jet's Hammer Head with a turret gun on the transport ship. *'Tucan:' Hello there, my friend. Welcome to hell. ---- Songs Used Farewell blues Goofs *When Fad is loading his gun in the cockpit he only loads one bullet. He uses that bullet to kill Udai, but after Jet shoots Fad he notices that Fad only has one bullet inside his gun. He never reloaded after shooting Udai. This isn't a goof - what was left in the revolver was the spent shell from the single bullet used to kill Udai. Series Connections *Jet's Past: It is revealed that Jet was double-crossed by his ex-partner in a sting that lost Jet the use of his arm. A sniper's bullet forced Jet to use a prosthetic arm that he never replaced even as technology allowed him to have a better replacement arm. Real World References *Con Air is 1997 action/thriller film starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich. The film is about a group of prisoners being transported to a prison via airplane that they take are able to take over. *"Black Dog" is a song by the band Led Zeppelin off their 1971 album Led Zeppelin IV.